By: Jennifer Saba The Star Tribune in Minneapolis is like many major papers across the country affected by declining ad and circ revenue. One popular measure the paper took in the spring to control costs: slicing the stock listings.
Now, the paper is bringing back some of the agate.
As of Oct. 21, the Star Tribune has been promoting that it added an additional page to the Saturday stock tables. ?We restored much of what we cut on Saturday,? said Duchesne Drew, assistant managing editor, business, at the Star Tribune.
When the paper cut the listings, Saturday?s agate went from four to one page, severally hobbling the paper?s ability to run many stocks and mutual funds.
An added page -- the paper now runs two on Saturday -- allow for capturing 90% of stocks and about 85% of mutual funds, Drew said.
When the paper trimmed the stock tables in April (Tuesday through Friday went from 2 pages to one page), the newsroom braced for an onslaught of readers who would be unhappy over the decision.
?We prepared ourselves to hear from tons of them,? said Drew. So the paper added staff on weekends to track and respond to readers -- thousands, many who are older.
Drew said the feedback eased over time but never stopped.
Still, he was not willing to cut back on news content in order to gain another page to the stock listings. So the ad department went out and found a sponsor for the tables with watermark and island ads.
The Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch made a similar move in July when it rolled out a standalone eight-page section free to subscribers after thousands of readers complained about the meager stock listings.
?I?m glad we were able to do it,? Drew said adding that many readers ?felt unloved? when the paper trimmed back. ?It feels good to restore to people something of value.?
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